KZN gangster gets life for murder

2010-09-22 18:43

Johannesburg - A gang member who admitted to shooting dead businessman Leonard Hobson, the owner of Scrumpy Jack Farm Stall at Winterton, was jailed for life in the Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday.

Mzwamandla Mazubukwe, 28, had admitted that he and two other men went to the stall to rob it of money.

They entered the stall when there were no customers.

Mazubukwe said he pointed a firearm at Hobson, 51, while two of his gang went to the till to take money.

Hobson managed to press an alarm bell to protect himself but as it sounded, Mazubukwe shot him dead.

Judge Leona Theron rejected the plea of Mazubukwe's counsel, Kelvin Singh, who said there were compelling circumstances which justified a sentence less than the prescribed life for the murder.

These circumstances were that he pleaded guilty and offered to assist in the prosecution of the other gang members.

Theron said that type of conduct could not be tolerated and the aggravating factors far outweighed the mitigating facts.

The gang was entirely motivated by greed, pre-planned the raid when there were no customers in the stall and took and used a firearm, said Theron.